Opposition members held after Maldives court validates emergency rule

A Maldives policeman charges with baton towards protesters after the government declared a 15-day state of emergency in Male, Maldives. Picture: Mohamed Sharuhaan/AP

Male - Maldives police arrested at least
another four opposition members under state of emergency laws
for protesting against President Abdulla Yameen's government,
the opposition said on Tuesday.

The top court in the Maldives validated last week a 30-day
extension of the state of emergency, which was sought by Yameen
over what he has called a national security threat and
constitutional crisis.

Opposition politicians defied a police order to stop
protesting after 10.30 pm local time on Monday (1730 GMT) and
continued to demand that Yameen implement a Supreme Court ruling
that quashed convictions against nine opposition leaders and
ordered the release of politicians and officials held in prison.

The Maldivian Democratic Party, the main opposition party,
said on Twitter police had arrested Mohamed Ameeth and Abdulla
Ahmed, two lawmakers who had defected from Yameen's party, and
two more from other opposition parties late on Monday.

Independent television Raajje TV, which showed footage of
police forcibly blocking protesters, said Abdulla Ahmed was
arrested while giving a media interview about the protest.

Yameen's government has so far ignored international calls
to lift the state of emergency, first declared on Feb. 5 for 15
days, and release opposition leaders from jail.

The Council of the European Union threatened the Maldives on
Monday with "targeted measures" if the crisis did not improve.

"The Council condemns politically motivated arrests and
calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners," the
EU said in a statement.

"The Council also condemns any interference with the work of
the Supreme Court of the Maldives and actions taken against the
judiciary and the judges," it said.

The Maldives foreign ministry said in a statement there was
no legal mandate to implement the Supreme Court order, which
also included reinstating 12 lawmakers stripped of their
parliamentary seats by Yameen's party for defecting last year.

"The government will ensure that the state of emergency is
lifted as soon as the threats posed to national security are
addressed satisfactorily," the statement said.

DIFFICULT STEPS

Countries including the United States, Canada, and
neighbouring India, along with the United Nations, have urged
Yameen to lift the emergency.

Tour operators say hundreds of hotel bookings have been
cancelled daily since the emergency was imposed, despite
government assurances that all was normal in Indian Ocean resort
islands far from the capital.

The government said in a statement on Monday it had to take
difficult steps to safeguard the constitution and ensure that
civil and political rights were protected.

The prosecutor general has said the extension of the state
of emergency was unconstitutional because parliament did not
have the required quorum when it voted last week.

However, the three-judge Supreme Court, which is functioning
without a chief justice, said late on Monday the parliamentary
vote on the extension was valid.

Under the emergency, Yameen's administration has arrested
the chief justice, another Supreme Court judge and former
president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on allegations of attempting to
overthrow the government.

Yameen has also fired two police chiefs who said they would
uphold the court's rulings. His government retains a majority in
parliament in the absence of the 12 MPs stripped of their seats.